The Just Shall Live by

Faith
The situation which Habakkuk faces is the imminent invasion of the southern
kingdom of Judah by the Chaldeans (who are the same as the Babylonians).
This invasion eventually happened at the end of the sixth century BC, and
Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. The Lord revealed to Habakkuk
beforehand that Judah was going to be punished for her sin by the
Chaldeans.
Unlike Joel and Zephaniah and Amos, Habakkuk does not even mention the
possibility that destruction could be averted. He does not call for national
repentance. It is too late. Instead, he predicts the destruction of Judah, and
beyond that the doom of the Chaldeans themselves. And he promises that
the only way to preserve your life through the judgment is by faith. So even
though destruction is decreed for the nation, there is hope for individuals
who hold fast their confidence in God. The full-blown doctrine of justification
by faith, as Paul taught it in Romans and Galatians, is not yet here. But the
seed is here. So what I would like to do today is survey the content of this
prophetic book, then focus on its main point and how it unfolds in the New
Testament as the great gospel truth of justification by faith.

Judah's Wickedness and Coming Judgment

After introducing the book as a "burden" which he received from God,
Habakkuk cries out in 1:24 that Judah is full of violence and perverted
justice. For example, verse 4: "So the law is slacked and justice never goes
forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted."
Amos had warned the northern kingdom that injustice would bring judgment,
and in 722 BC Assyria swept the northern kingdom away. Now here is the

southern kingdom of Judah, 130 years later, guilty of the same offenses.
They had not learned anything.
So in 1:511 God foretells what he intends to do. Verse 6: "For lo, I am
rousing the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the
breadth of the earth, to seize habitations not their own." God is in control of
the nations. He swings them like a sword to chastise his people. The
Chaldeans will come against Judah as God's rod of correction. But verse 12
expresses the confidence Habakkuk has that God will not utterly destroy his
people. "Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We
shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them as a judgment; and thou, O
Rock, hast established them for chastisement." God is rousing the Chaldeans
against his people, but it is not for annihilation but for correction and
chastisement.

The Chaldeans' Wickedness and Coming Judgment

Then in 1:1317 Habakkuk shows that he is not satisfied that the proud
(1:11) and violent (1:14, 15) and idolatrous (1:16) Chaldeans should
themselves escape the judgment of God. They certainly are no more
righteous than Judah (1:13), even if God is using them to do his righteous
work of judgment. So he protests in verse 17: "Is he (i.e., the Chaldean
nation), then, to keep on emptying his net, and mercilessly slaying nations
forever?"
In chapter 1, then, Habakkuk protests first against the violence and injustice
of his countrymen in Judah (1:14), and then against the violence and
injustice of the Chaldeans whom God is sending to punish Judah. Now, in
chapter 2 Habakkuk takes his stand to await the divine response to his
protests. In 2:2, 3, the Lord answers him in a vision. We are not told what he
saw. But I assume that the rest of what Habakkuk says about the future of
Judah and the Chaldeans is based on the assurance received in that vision.
The word regarding Judah in verse 4 is this (following the NASB instead of the
RSV's unnecessary conjecture): "Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not

right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith." There is hope for
those who will hold firm their trust in God as the calamity comes.
But the word regarding the Chaldeans in 2:619 is a five-fold woe. Verse 6:
"Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own." Verse 9: "Woe to him who
gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high." Verse 12: "Woe to him
who builds a town with blood." Verse 15: "Woe to him who makes his
neighbors drink up the cup of his wrath." Verse 19: "Woe to him who says to
a wooden thing, Awake; and to a dumb stone, Arise!" In other words, the
great power of the Chaldeans will, in the end, come to nought. The nations
weary themselves in vain to fill the earth with their fame and power. Why?
Because (as 2:14 says), "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord, as the waters covers the sea." Habakkuk need not fear that
a rebellious nation will have the last say. The earth is the Lord's, and he will
fill it with his glory. The chapter closes with these awesome words in verse
20: "The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him."
Let all the nations be still and know that he is God. His glory will fill the earth,
not the glory of the Chaldeans.
So in answer to Habakkuk's protests, God assures him that the pride of the
Chaldeans will come to a woeful end (2:620) and that any in Judah who
humbly trusts God will gain his life. "The just shall live by his faith" (2:4).

Habakkuk's Song of Praise and Faith

The last chapter of the book is Habakkuk's response to what he has heard.
But it is more than his own personal prayer. It is intended as a psalm to be
used in worship. When it says in verse 1, "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet,
according to Shigionoth," it means that the prayer is to be used to musical
accompaniment with a spirit of excitement and triumph. This is confirmed by
two things: 1) the very last phrase of the book, "To the choirmaster: with
stringed instruments," and 2) the use of "Selah" at the end of verses 3, 9,
and 13. The reason this is important to see is that Habakkuk wants us to be
able to sing this prayer with him. It is not here to merely inform us about
Habakkuk's piety. It's here to show us how we should face the judgment of

God. The Chaldeans are coming against Judah for sure. How should the godly
prepare for this tribulation and calamity? We should ask the same question.
Tribulation is coming upon the world, as Jesus said (Matthew 24:21). How
should we prepare for it? How shall we endure it?
First of all, in 3:2 Habakkuk prays, "O Lord, I have heard the report of thee,
and thy work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years renew it; in the
midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy." Habakkuk has
a sober and healthy fear of the judgment of God. So he prays that in the
midst of wrath God will have mercy on him. Then in 3:315 he sings the
greatness of God's power, and especially his power to save. For example,
verse 13: "Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, for the
salvation of thine anointed. Thou didst crush the head of the wicked, laying
him bare from thigh to neck." The prophet knew God's power from his work
in the past, and so he counted on his ultimate victory in the future. So verse
16 says that even though his body trembles at the thought of the invasion,
he "waits quietly" for what must be.
And finally, in 3:1719, Habakkuk breaks out into a wonderful song of faith:
Though the fig tree do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of
the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold,
and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the
God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like
hinds' feet, he makes me tread upon my high places.
In other words, no matter how severe the tribulation when the Chaldeans
invade the land, Habakkuk will never stop trusting God. Even though God
himself has roused this "bitter and hasty nation" (1:6), Habakkuk is confident
that in wrath God will show mercy to those who trust him and rejoice in him
alone when all else fails.
When a man and a woman marry, they pledge their love and faithfulness to
each other "for better or for worse, whether rich or poor, in sickness and in
health, 'til death do us part." And if that's true between husband and wife,
how much more between us and God! That consecration is so important to
Nol and me that we used Habakkuk 3:1719 as a wedding text 14 years

ago. We are each other's, and we are God's, no matter how severe the
tribulation. We trust each other, and we trust him absolutely.
The Main Point of Habakkuk
Now as we step back from our survey, it shouldn't be too hard to see what
the main point of this little book is. Negatively it is this: Proud people, whose
strength or ingenuity is their god (1:11, 16; 2:4, 19), will come to a woeful
end, even though they may enjoy prosperity for a season either as God's
chosen ones in Judah, or as the victors over Judah. All the proud, whether Jew
or Gentile, will perish in the judgment. But Habakkuk stresses
the positive side of his main point, namely, "the just shall live by his faith."
He states it as a principle in 2:4, and then he celebrates it as his own song in
3:1619. When Habakkuk says, "Even when all the fruit and produce and
flocks and herds are destroyed and my very life is threatened, yet will I
rejoice in God,"when Habakkuk says that, he shows us what he means by
faith in 2:4: "The just shall live by his faith." He means banking your hope on
God no matter what.
Remember that Habakkuk's prophecy began with his attack on Judah's
violence and strife and perverted justice in 1:3, 4. You might expect that
when he comes to tell the people how to be saved in the judgment he would
say: "Cease being violent! Do justice! Put away strife!" (That's what Amos
said.) But he doesn't. When the judgment is certain and the question is,
"How can I gain my life before the wrath of a holy God?" Habakkuk's answer
is trust him. "The just shall live by his faith" (2:4).
Amos had said to Israel, "Seek good, and not evil, that you may live . . .
Remember justice in the gate, and it may be that the Lord of hosts will be
gracious" (5:14, 15). So Habakkuk could have said to Judah: The just shall
live by his goodness! The just shall live by executing justice in the gate! And
he would not have been wrong. For it is a thoroughly biblical teaching that
people whose everyday lives are not changed by the Holy Spirit will not
inherit eternal life (Galatians 5:21). So in a real sense we do gain our lives by
becoming better people in God's power and by doing justice and loving
mercy.

But that is not the heart of the gospel. And unless we have the
heart, that part of God's message will become a dreadful legalism and a
horrid burden to the conscience. Habakkuk's message comes close to the
heart of the gospel. When he says, "The just (or the righteous) shall live by
his faith," he implies two things. One is that all those who are righteous are
also ones who have faith in God. Having a right standing before man and
God always includes faith in God. The other thingHabakkuk 2:4 implies is
that faith is what saves from God's wrath. "The just shall live by his faith"
means: Just people are people of faith, and faith is what secures their life and
keeps them safe for eternity.
Close to the Heart of the Gospel
The reason Habakkuk's message comes close to the heart of the gospel (but
doesn't reveal the heart) is that he does not tell us explicitly how
righteousness and faith are related. He simply says, "Righteous people have
faith, and this faith saves them." The heart of the gospel is that the
righteousness which God requires comes by faith, and it is possible for us
sinners to have it because Christ died for our sins. Genesis 15:6 says,
"Abraham believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness."
The relationship between trusting God and standing righteous before him is
that God looks at our faith and counts us righteous. The reason God can do
that for us sinners is that Christ took the punishment for our iniquities on
himself. Already in Isaiah 53:11 this is plain: "By his knowledge shall the
righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he
shall bear their iniquities." When God reckons a person righteous because
Christ died for him and because he puts his trust in Christ, that is what we
call justification by faith, and that is the heart of the gospel, the best news in
the world to people who know they are sinners and God is holy.
But let's not move beyond Habakkuk too quickly. There may be more here
than we think for the encouragement of our faith. The judgment of God is
coming, most immediately in the Chaldean invasion of Judah, but finally at
the end of the age. What is it that will bring life instead of death in the
judgment? Before I give Habakkuk's answer, let me make clear that if this is
not your question, you are in a dream world. You are living in a fool's

paradise of unreality if you do not ask with all your heart, "How can I stand in
the judgment which is coming?" "It is appointed for me to die once, and after
that comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Those who resist God are "storing up
wrath for themselves on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment
will be revealed" (Romans 2:5). On that day it will appear clearly to all how
utterly nave it was for millions of people to live their lives as though the God
who made this world for his glory would never call them to account for how
little he has meant to them. It squares with Scripture, and it squares with
reason: "He has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in
righteousness" (Acts 17:31). Therefore, I urge you to ask yourself: Would I
gain my life before a holy God if I died tonight? Am I ready to take my stand
in the divine courtroom and hear the Judge pass an eternal sentence on me?
There will only be two verdicts in that day, and one or the other of them will
be passed on every person: either "condemned" or "justified," hell or heaven,
eternal death or eternal life.
If you want to know how to be ready to gain your life on that day, listen
toHabakkuk 2:4. "The just shall live by his faith." Habakkuk knew that
everybody in Judah was a sinner. And he knew that the holiness of God
prevents him from ignoring our sins: "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold
evil and canst not look on wrong" (1:13). So Habakkuk taught that the only
thing that could save us is faith. Faith in what? In God's mercy. In 3:2 he
prays, "In wrath remember mercy."
Habakkuk couldn't see ahead to how God would preserve both his holy
hatred for sin and his merciful forgiveness of sinners who trust him. But God
had revealed it, and so he proclaimed it: the just shall gain their lives in the
judgmentby faith. He knew that when he called them "just," they weren't
sinless. He meant that those who are right with God in spite of their sin are
those who trust God for his mercy. But how can a holy God, who hates sin,
show eternal mercy on sinners who simply trust him for mercy? God did not
reveal that much to Habakkuk.
The New Testament Revelation of the Gospel
But he did to the apostle Paul, and the answer is the death of Christ. Paul
said it like this:

They are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be
received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his
divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the
present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has
faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:2426)
Let me try to translate that into your situation. When you put your trust in
Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, when you give up trying to lead your
own life and establish your own worth, and instead surrender your heart to
him and bank on him for your future, three things happen. 1) Your sin
receives its deserved condemnation. 2) God's righteousness receives its
deserved glorification. 3) And you receive your undeserved justification.
1) Your sin receives its deserved condemnation. You may be drunk with selfconfidence now before the awesome holiness of God. But, I promise you, on
your deathbed (if God gives you a chance) you will sober up in a hurry, and
be scared to death that in a day or two you will stand with all your sin before
God. Sin must be punished. But God, who is rich in mercy, sent his Son to
take our sin on himself and suffer for it. "What the law could not do, weak as
it was through the flesh, God did: sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh and for sin, hecondemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3). "He
himself bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 2
Corinthians 5:21; Isaiah 53:6; Mark 10:45). If you close with Christ in faith,
the death he died becomes your death. Your sins become his, and you bear
them no more. They have received their deserved condemnation.
2) But it is not as though God's righteousness were easily satisfied. It took
the death of Christ for God's righteousness to receive its deserved
glorification. If his righteousness had not been at stake, he might have swept
your sin under the rug. But he glorified his righteousness by requiring an
infinitely valuable sacrificethe death of his own Son. It is unthinkable in a
moral universe that God could simply let bygones be bygones. The sins you
committed ten years ago are as vivid and horrible and condemning as if you
did them last night. The righteous God cannot forget and ignore sinunless
there is an atonement, a sacrificial substitute. Therefore, he sent the Son, so

that our sin might receive its deserved condemnation, and his righteousness
might receive its deserved glorification.
3) Finally, when you trust in Christ you receive your undeserved justification.
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus"
(Romans 8:1). "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). "To the one who does not work
but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as
righteousness" (Romans 4:5).
Habakkuk taught us that when judgment comes the just shall live by his
faith. And when that seed comes to full flower in the New Testament, we see
that the reason the just live by faith is that the just are justified by faith. As
Paul puts it (and with this invitation I close), "They are justified by his grace
as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put
forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (Romans
3:24f.).

Sermon: When God Can't Be

Explained - Habakkuk
by Rick Ezell on Thursday, April 19, 2007

Main theme
God never explains himself. He rarely gives reasons. The events that unfold
in our world seldom make sense. We, therefore, are confronted with the basic
tenet of Christianity: The righteous live by faith.

Introduction
On Saturday, March 9, 2002, three women were killed in Chicago when part
of a 25-foot aluminum scaffold fell in high winds from the 43rd floor of the
John Hancock Center. These three women were in their cars, unsuspecting of
any danger, when the incident occurred. The Chicago Tribune headline
stated: "Tragedy at the Hancock."
This tragedy occurred almost six months from the day terrorists flew planes
into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon
in Washington, D.C., killing 3,063 innocent people. This horrific assault has
been labeled "the day that changed America."

Tragedy is hard to understand, hard to explain, and hard on faith. Some

people lay the blame at the feet of God and become bitter and cynical
toward Him. They ask for explanation, but get silence. They ask for
understanding, and are baffled.
Life, indeed, is a mystery. Much of what happens in life is beyond us. And
even if it were explained to us, we probably wouldn't be satisfied with it. We
long for sensibility. We seek explanation. We are desperate for reason.
We need to understand one fundamental truth that is spoken throughout all
Scripture: God never explains himself. He rarely gives reasons. The events
that unfold in our world seldom make sense. We, therefore, are confronted
with the basic tenant of Christianity: The righteous live by faith.

I. An expression of faith
Perhaps the greatest expression of undaunted faith ever penned came from
the Old Testament spokesman, Habakkuk. Most prophets spoke to the people
for God. Habakkuk spoke to God for the people. He lived in times that were
hard on faith. He saw the righteous suffering and the wicked prospering. He
asked God the two questions we often ask: "Why?" and "How long?" Why are
these things happening? How long will it be before they are rectified?
God revealed to Habakkuk that the Babylonians, the epitome of everything
Habakkuk (and God for that matter) detested, would become God's
instrument of judgment on Judah. Habakkuk did not understand. He could
not explain it. For a time, evil would win over righteousness and bad things
would happen to good people. God's hand would not move. His face would
not be seen. Yet throughout this time of punishment, God reminded
Habakkuk of correct living: "The righteous will live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4).
Habakkuk realized that though he did not understand God's ways or timing,
he could not doubt God's wisdom, love, or reliability. Then Habakkuk wrote
his great affirmation of faith.
"Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though
the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep
in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in the Lord; I will
rejoice in the God of my salvation!" (Hab. 3:17-19).

Habakkuk affirmed that even if everything he relied on failed, if everything

that gave stability to his life crumbled, still he'd trust the Lord.
If Habakkuk were speaking today, he would say, "Though the scaffold falls,
the stock market crashes, the company goes bankrupt, and the economy
heads south, if everything I rely on falters - still I will trust in the Lord. My
confidence in God will not waver."

II. The importance of faith

Corrie ten Boom knew something about tragedy and suffering. She lived with
a courageous faith. Upon emerging from a Nazi concentration camp she said,
"There is no pit so deep that God isn't deeper still." She picked an apt
analogy because pain and tragedy is a pit. For some, it appears bottomless.
Many experience a falling, disorientation, a terror, as they grab for walls that
are out of reach. They see only blackness, and hear only echoes of the life
they used to know. And for many, they claim that God is not present. But
Corrie ten Boom, like Habakkuk, reminds us that even in the pits of tragedy,
God is still there. He is present.
Yes, pain is real. But God, indeed, is real, too. That's where faith comes in.
Faith reminds us we may not fully grasp God's design for our lives now, but in
time we will come to trust in the God's love. Until then, we must believe in
God.

III. What faith believes

A. Faith believes that God is too wise to make a mistake.

The God of the universe has a plan for our lives, and He is busy enacting it.
But it is not easy to discern. It is often above and beyond us.
We view life as though we are watching a parade through a rolled-up
program. We can only see what is immediately in front of us. But God is high
above us and sees all of life at one glance. He sees both the beginning and
the end of things, while we see only the present.
We are always wiser after the event. But while the crisis is occurring, we are
unaware of why we are going through a tragedy. Only after we reflect does it
strike us that God was in it all along. For that reason, we trust in the ways of
God, believing that He is too wise to make a mistake.

On the wall of a concentration camp, a prisoner had carved these words.

I believe in the sun, even though it does not shine.
I believe in love, even when it isn't shown.
I believe in God, even when he doesn't speak.
B. Faith believes that God is too kind to be cruel.

Over the marble fireplace in the mathematics Building of Princeton

University, written in original German, is the scientific credo: "God is subtle,
but he is not malicious." God is never malicious in his dealing with us.
Whatever he does, He does for our good.
The apostle Paul spoke of the kindness of God and His amazing grace when
he wrote
"We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God:
those who are called according to His purpose. For those He foreknew, He
also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would
be the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom. 8:28-29).
These verses are as important for what they do not say as they are for what
they say. They do not say that everything that happens is good. They do not
say that God causes evil. They do not say that everything will turn out okay
for everyone.
What they do say is: God is at work in the world, especially in the lives of his
children. His glorious purpose is to make us like his Son, Jesus Christ. And to
that good end, God can and does use all things - the good and the bad, that
which He causes and that which He permits. It assures us that no experience
has to be a waste.
C. Faith believes that God always knows best and does best in His time.

When we try to impose our timetable on God, we get into trouble. For
example, a man found a cocoon on a tree in his yard. He was intrigued by it
and decided to watch it change. One day, he saw a tiny butterfly inside the
delicate covering and he watched it struggling, trying its best to break out of
its captivity. Finally, the man became so frustrated that he decided to use a
razor blade to make a tiny slit in the side of the cocoon, in order to free the
struggling butterfly. Soon afterward, the butterfly was free, but it could not
fly and finally died prematurely.

There are times of trials, when we want to short circuit the maturation
process. We want to "bug out" or "beg off", while God wants to prepare us for
a great work or a new phase of life. Like the butterfly, it is only in struggles
that we obtain strength.
D. Faith believes that God is in control, and therefore we can rest easily.

George Buttrick has said, "The same sun that hardens the clay melts the
wax." It is our choice whether we will let the inevitable suffering and
misfortune of life harden or soften us. We can choose to be hopeful or
hopeless. We can decide whether we will be an optimist or a pessimist. It all
depends on how we look at it, and we determine in which direction we look.
E. Faith believes that when we cannot trace the hand of God, we must trust the
heart of God.

Habakkuk presented a great affirmation of faith by saying, "Yahweh my Lord

is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to
walk on mountain heights!" (Hab. 3:19). The deer Habakkuk is referring too
was a mountain climbing deer known for its sure and steady feet. On the
most treacherous terrain, it never fell. This is the Lord's promise to us. He will
keep us on our feet as we travel the treacherous paths of life. He may not
get us out of the troubles, but He promises to get us through.

Conclusion
God is here for you, too. He will never leave you. He cares too much for you.
Even if the night is dark and the storm is raging, know that God is here. Even
when you can't see the hand of God, you can trust the heart of God.
Will you trust him? Even if you don't understand why, will you trust him?
Trust him because you know that he knows why. Even if you wonder how
long, will you trust him? Trust him because he knows the time and the length
of suffering. Trust him without explanation, logic and reasoning. Trust him
because he is God.
Tonight were going to begin our study of the book of Habakkuk. As I said this morning,
happiness is sitting next to somebody who knows where Habakkuk is. So I hope youll
find somebody around you who knows where Habakkuk is and turn to it in your Bibles.
For the next few Sunday nights were going to be dealing with the book of Habakkuk.
The subject for tonight is the strangeness of Gods ways from the book of Habakkuk.

Now in case youre lost, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai and so
forth. Minor prophets, Old Testament holy Bible. Thats all the directions I can give you.
And Ill give you a moment to find it since it is a small book.
Habakkuk chapter 1, and this is a very fascinating book, although it is very brief, merely
three chapters and three very brief chapters. It is a very, very important book. Now
tonight, primarily, I want to discuss chapter 1 verses 1 through 11. Beginning at verse 1,
we read;
The burden in which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry and
Thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee a violence and Thou wilt not save? Why dost
Thou show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence
are before me and there are those who raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law
is slacked and justice doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about the
righteous; therefore justice goeth forth perverted. It sounds like a description of
twentieth century, doesnt it?
Verse 5, Behold among the nations and regard and wonder marvelously; for I will work
a work in your days which you will not believe though it be told you. This is God
speaking. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans that bitter and hasty nation which shall
march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.
They are terrible and dreadful, theyre judgment and their dignity shall proceed from
themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards and are more fierce than
the evening wolves and their horsemen shall spread themselves and their horsemen
shall come from far. They shall fly like the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all
for violence. The set of their faces is forward and they shall gather the captives as the
sand. And they shall scoff at the kings and the princes shall be a scorn unto them for
they shall deride every stronghold for they shall heap dust and take it. Then shall his
mind change and he shall pass over and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
A very interesting portion of Scripture. Now we know that life is never a bed of roses and
particularly the Christian life is never a bed of roses. Even though we live the life of faith,
even though our faith is very personally and very explicitly placed in the person of Jesus
Christ, and even though Christ is all and all, and even though He is sufficient to every

need, life, the life of faith, is never just comfortable. There are always problems. There
are always problems in the Christians life. There are always problems in the life of the
Israelites. There were problems in the mind of Habakkuk as he wrote in this prophecy.
And the reason there are always problems is because there is always an active
adversary, Satan, whose desire is to tempt us to sin. And so there are problems. And
various temptations are presented to our minds as Christians and Satans desire in
presenting these temptations is to undermine our faith, is to cause us to doubt God, or
to doubt Gods love, or to doubt that God cares. Surprisingly enough, this is true of
Christians.
Many of us find coming into our lives problems that we cannot understand, sorrows that
we cannot cope with, various temptations that tend to make us doubt God and wonder if
were really saved, wonder if God really cares at all, wonder if the faith that we hold to
so strongly could really have a failing or a weak link in it. And so if Satan tempts us to
doubt God, to undermine our faith, and then Satan tempts the unsaved by making
Christianity look ridiculous, its an old, old tactic of Satan to present a ridiculous
Christianity to the world, to try to make Christianity look like stupidity. And hes done it all
through history.
Today, one of the main anxieties pushed off on the world by Satan is the problem of
history. Thats what we want to talk about for the next few Sunday nights in this
prophecy. The problem of history. You see, today people are perplexed with the
historical situation. You look around you and you wonder why its like it is. Now up until
about 1914 or 1915 we had a different problem. It wasnt the problem of history that was
bugging everybody, it was the problem of science. For in the nineteenth century and in
centuries previous to that, the biggest problem was that science was purported to be a
threat to Christianity. And you had during those centuries critics who said that the Bible
was scientifically wrong and in great error, etc., etc., etc. They would point to thinks like
the Bible statement that the sun stood still and various things like that and say the Bible
is scientifically impossible.
And so, Christianity was always wrangling with science. And if you ever see a book on
Christianity and science, the great books, the great traditional books were books written
at the very beginning of this century and at the latter part of the last century because

that was the day in which science was the problem. But today thats not the problem.
Today is the problem of history. It goes like this, how can a God like the one you claim in
the Bible let the world get in the mess that its in? Or for that matter, how can the God
that you claim is the God of the Bible let the church get in the mess that the church is
in? And so we have the problem of history. And if you look around the world, the world is
in a mess...war, famine, disease, suffering, sorrow, death, constant problems all around
the world.
And Ill tell you, if you look at the church youre going to find the church in the main is in
a mess...apostasy, liberalism, a denial of the authenticity of Scripture, a denial of verbal
plenary inspiration, a denial of the deity of Jesus Christ, a substitution of every inane
type of philosophy imaginable. Theres no question about the fact that the world is in a
mess. Theres no question about the fact that the church is in a mess. And so, the issue
today is if God is really God, why is all this mess such a problem today? Why is God
allowing it and why are we having to cope with it? This is the issue today. This is the
great problem thats thrown up in the face of Christianity today...the problem of history.
And this is what we want to deal with because in this century, the century in which we
live, primarily right today in this particular decade, many Christians find their faith
shaken. Many find them sort of rattling at their roots because of the course of events in
the world. And other people who are not Christians who have no faith find it very
difficult...very difficult to accept the God of the Bible in view of the history thats going on
in our world today.
Devastating world problems become very difficult to reconcile with a loving, caring, kind
God as Hes presented in the Bible. But really theres no excuse for this perplexity on
the part of a Christian and theres absolutely no excuse for rejection on the part of a
non-Christian because the plain teaching of the Bible sets it straight. There is really no
reason to be perplexed about the relationship of the Bible and science. Thats a dead
issue. James White Dana(?) said there is nothing more true in all the universe than the
statements of the Bible that touch on science. And he was a head geologist at Yale
University. Thats a dead issue. The Bible hasnt made scientific error, it doesnt make
any scientific error. And now the history problem is the issue. But there really shouldnt
be any perplexity about that either because the Bible deals just as explicitly with that as
it does with the problem of science.

Now I know that some people think that the Bible is a text book on salvation and thats
the beginning and the end of it. But thats not really so. Salvation is really just one
thread that runs through the theme of the Bible. The Bibles purpose, the Word of Gods
purpose is the entire destiny of the world. If all the Bible cared about was salvation, it
wouldnt deal with the fall of man, necessarily, it wouldnt deal with hell, it wouldnt deal
with all of the things that have to do with a godless world. The Bible is infinitely more
than a textbook on salvation. It is that, to be sure it is that. But it is more than that. The
Word of God in total revelation is concerned with the entire world, its condition and its
destiny. The Bible, if you please, has a very profound philosophy of history and a
distinctive world view.
Careful reading and study of the Word of God will show this to you. If you just peruse
your favorite Psalm or reread over and over again the Sermon on the Mount, or flip
around in your favorite gospel, you might not get it. But if you carefully study the Word
of God, you will find that every thing that occurs in history has a place in Gods divine
plan. The Word of God then is concerned with the whole spectrum of the world and its
destiny.
Now I say all that to say this. Habakkuk is an illustration of this problem because the
prophet treats the problem of history in his book and he treats it in a fascinating way. He
doesnt treat it from an academic standpoint. He doesnt treat it from a theoretic
standpoint. He doesnt treat it from a philosophical standpoint. He treats it from the
personal perplexity of his own life. He says, in essence, God, I cant figure out why its
going like it is if Youre who You are. That is Habakkuks problem. And so I want us to
join him in his experience. He was troubled by what he saw in the world.
Now what was the situation? Well the situation in Habakkuks day was that Israel was
back-slidden, which is nothing new for Israel. Israel had turned from God, Israel had
forgotten God, Israel was completely given over to idolatry. And so he begins in verse 2,
the real cry of his heart as he examines Israel and he says this, O Lord, how long shall
I cry and Thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto Thee of violence and Thou wilt not save.
Why dost thou show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance for spoiling and
violence are before me and there are those who raise up strife and contention?
Therefore the law is slacked and justice does not go forth for the wicked doth compass

about the righteous, therefore justice goeth forth perverted. What a horrible picture of
Israel. And the prayer that Habakkuk is praying is...God, theyre in a mess, Ive been
asking You and asking You and crying out for You to change it. Why dont You do
something about it? How long shall I cry and You will not hear?
What a situation. Sin, immorality, vice were rampant. Those in government were slack
and indolent. And those who applied the law applied it dishonestly and justice was
nowhere to be found. And Habakkuk, a man of God, has had his heart just bleeding
before God as to why God allows this. Such were the conditions of Israel. There was
lawlessness, there was sin, immorality and so forth.
The same thing is true today. As we look about our world we see the same
characteristics exactly as in Habakkuks day. In verse 2 he says, There is violence.
Certainly thats a watchword of our day. In verse 3 he says, There is iniquity, there is
violence, again, there are those who raise up strife and contention. There are
revolutionaries stirring up trouble. Verse 4, Therefore the law is slack and theres no
justice fairly and honestly. Law and authority are not dealing fairly and honestly. Its
difficult to find justice in this world, just as it was in the day of Habakkuk. And so hes
perplexed by the situation and he cries out to God and says, God, if Youre who You
are, why are You letting it happen? We stand today in the twentieth century and we can
look at God with almost the same quizzical expression in our brain and say, God, why
is it like it is? Why is it that we constantly cry out about these things and nothing ever
happens? They only get worse.
So the situation wasnt very good. Well if you think the situation was bad, wait till you
get a hold of the solution. In verse 5 to 11, Habakkuk gets probably the most unusual
answer to prayer that anybody ever got. If you think Gods inactivity was perplexing, just
notice his activity. And Habakkuk was perplexed in verses 2 and 4 but it must have been
nothing compared to whats going on in his brain after he heard Gods answer. Verse 5
God says, Behold among the nations in regard.. God doesnt say Im going to answer
your prayer, everythings going to be roses. He says, And wonder marvelously for Ill
work a work in your days, first of all, which you will not believe, though it be told you.
And heres the answer to Habakkuks prayer. Verse 6, For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation which shall march through the breadth of the land to

possess the dwelling places that are not there. They are terrible and dreadful, their
judgment, their dignity shall proceed from themselves, and he describes their horses,
their swiftness. Their horsemen are going to cover the land, theyre going to come
swiftly like an eagle. Verse 9, theyre going to come for violence. The set of their faces is
forward. That means that theyre not going to be distracted, theyve got a goal in mind,
youre going to go at it. They shall gather the captives as the sand. Theyre going to
pick up the whole nation Israel. Theyll scoff and laugh at the kings and princes. Theyll
deride every stronghold. Theyre going to heap dust and take it. And then in verse 11,
Theyre going to glory and think that they did it because of the power of their own God.
Now listen to this. God answered Habakkuk by saying, You think its bad now, you
havent seen anything yet. Now thats an unusual answer. Hes been crying out, O
God, deliver us, deliver us, deliver us, deliver us. And God says, Not only will I not
deliver you, its going to get worse than it is now. God intends to raise up an utterly
pagan godless people to come in and destroy Israel.
Now this is the problem of Habakkuk. Number one, why is God inactive? Why does God
not hear his cry? Secondly, when He does, why does He answer that way? And through
these eleven verses, we learn three great truths about the way God acts. Gods ways,
first of all, are mysterious; secondly, they are misunderstood; but thirdly, they are moral.
Gods ways are mysterious, misunderstood yet they are moral. Thats our basic outline.
First of all, lets notice that Gods ways are mysterious. Now weve hinted at it already.
First of all, lets notice His mysterious in action. It is strange how that God is silent in
very serious circumstances. And we stand there and we ask ourselves, Why...why did
God let Israel get this far gone? Why didnt God smash those idols right when they were
put up? Why did God allow false prophets? Why didnt He strike them down on the
spot? Why did God allow Israel to deteriorate at all? Why didnt God maintain the purity
of Israel?
We can ask ourselves the same questions in reference to the church. Why has God let
liberalism come into the church? Why has He allowed it? Why doesnt He strike those
false teachers? Why doesnt He strike them dead on the spot when they utter their
blasphemy and their denial of the faith? Why does God allow so many wrong things to

be done? And why in the context of the church does God allow people under the name
of Jesus Christ to commit the atrocities that have been committed? So many churches
in our world that name the name of Jesus Christ and under the name of Jesus Christ
are doing things unbelievable. Why does God allow it? If God is really God, why doesnt
He keep the church pure? Why does He let this happen? And not only that, why hasnt
God answered yes to all of my faithful prayers? How long have we been praying for a
revival in America? How long have we been praying for a revival all over the world?
Why hasnt God answered yes? Why no revival?
We pray for decades and God doesnt hear, why? Why doesnt God bring America to its
knees? Why doesnt God take these people who have turned against Him and turn
them toward Him? And youve probably asked in your own heart on an individual level,
why does God allow so-and-so to be ill? Why doesnt God heal? Or youve asked, why
doesnt God save that person that Ive prayed for month after month after month after
month, why? Why is God silent in the midst of the atrocities committed under His name
in the church? Why do they allow it in Israel? Why does He allow the world to go like its
going if Hes really God?
See, Gods ways are mysterious, arent they? His inaction is mysterious. Secondly, His
unexpected providences are mysterious. Second thing we discover from Habakkuk is
that God sometimes gives very unexpected answer to our prayers. Now this really
shook Habakkuk...really shook him. For a long time God didnt seem to answer. And
then all of a sudden God answered. In Habakkuks mind, God was answering all along
but He wasnt answering the way Habakkuk wanted him to. Finally God answered and it
was even more mysterious than before He answered because, you see, Habakkuk
thought he knew what Israel needed. He thought in his mind...well, heres what Israel
needs, God, number one, God, just do it this way. They need a revival, God. And
secondly, after Youve kind of placed them a little bit, and had a revival, turn them
around and make them turn toward You, God. Thats exactly what they need. They just
need a good whipping, God. They need to be smashed down and punished a little bit
and then they need a great revival, God, and theyll turn to You and everything will be
great.

But, you see, God had other plans for Israel. John Newton said that he felt that he
wanted something better in his spiritual life, at one time, so he cried out to God for a
deeper knowledge of God. He cried out for a deeper understanding of his own spiritual
light and he besought God that he might have a new dimension in his Christian
experience. You know what happened? He expected some wonderful vision of God, or
he expected some dramatic blessing from heaven. But you know what he got? Instead
he had an experience in which for months God seemed a million miles away and God
seemed to abandon John Newton to Satan himself. He was tempted and he was tried
beyond his comprehension, the exact opposite of what he prayed for. But, you see, God
had allowed Newton to go into the depths of suffering to teach him to depend entirely on
Him. And then when Newton had learned his lesson, he brought him out and blessed
him.
In the Bible theres a basic principle...suffering always precedes glory. You know that?
Suffering always precedes glory. I suppose the best illustration of that is football
practice. Some of you guys know. As I look back on that, you know, you live for the glory
on Saturday but oh the suffering through the week. Theres some basic principles in life
that suffering precede glory. No man ever attained anything in life but what he suffered
through some sacrificial hours to take himself to that glory. No man ever became
effective and astute in any dimension of education until he had sacrificed hours and
hours and hours of careful study. No man ever becomes a well-trained athlete who
performs well at the big moment unless he is disciplined and sacrificed throughout the
hours and hours that nobody saw. How many of you have ever asked God to make you
suffer? Have you ever gotten down on your knees and said, God, make me suffer. God,
literally smash me down. God, crush me. Have you ever prayed that? I never have, Im
afraid to.
Well what do we pray? Lord, protect me, Lord, keep me safe as I go over here. Lord,
bless our family. Lord, watch over us. Lord, take care of us. Lord, do this, do that. You
know, keep the little wall around us. Lord, dont let anything happen to us. Thats the
way we pray, isnt it?
But theres a basic biblical principle that says what precedes glory? Suffering always
precedes glory. Well we dont pray for that, do we? All we want is the glory. You want to

know something? Some day Israel is going to be glorified, did you know that? Some day
theyre going to reign with Christ who is their Messiah, arent they, for a thousand years.
Theyre going to have the glory but not without the suffering. And some day the church
is going to be glorified, isnt it? In the day that we meet Jesus Christ in our glorified
bodies, but not before we go through some suffering in this world. We all like to
prescribe our own answers to our own prayers, dont we? We pray and in the back of
our minds we say, God, in case Youre stuck for a plan... But we forget the fact that
God sometimes makes things an awful lot worse before they get any better. Just
remember that God may do the opposite of what you expect, but dont forget it might
look like the backside of a Persian rug to you but on the other side, the side that God
sees, its a beautiful, glorious tapestry. What were seeing today is the backside. What
were seeing today in the world is the suffering that the world is going through to get
ready for the glory thats going to be there. You know that some day this world is going
to be in the hands of Jesus Christ and the lion is going to lie down with the lamb and the
little child is going to play in a snake pit and never be bitten. And do you know that the
nations are going to go in and out and see Jesus Christ reigning on the throne of David
and Israel is going to be glorified and the church is going to be glorified and Christ is
going to be glorified. But not before suffering and God is beating this world down in
judgment right now and beginning right now up until the time that Christ comes in final
judgment, until that day this world is going to be under the judgment of God to get it
ready for the glory.
Why should I deserve anything that Christ never had? It was needful for Christ to suffer
before He could be glorified. And so it is for us. And things are going to keep getting
worse, 1 Timothy 3, about verse 13 Paul said to Timothy, Evil men shall
wax...what?...worse and worse in the last days. We start reading prophetic Scriptures
and were going to get into a series on prophetic themes for today following our study of
Habakkuk, and we read about the fact that in the end times theres going to be wars and
rumors of wars. We read about in the end time theres going to be lawlessness.
Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul says that the spirit of lawlessness is going to run wild in
the end times. We read that in the end times theres going to be a rise of cults, false
religions called by Paul in his letter to Timothy doctrines of devils. We read that in the
last days there are going to be apostates who go around denying the Lord that bought

them, 2 Peter 2. That things are going to get worse and worse and worse, not better.
And Ill tell you, if youre spending your time praying for peace, you might as well forget
it. Pray for peace in the hearts of men, not in the world, there never will be peace in this
world till Christ comes. And if youre praying for an end to end all wars, forget it, theres
never going to be an end to all wars till Christ comes. Things are going to get worse and
worse and worse before they ever get any better. The lines are being drawn right now
for the battle of Armageddon. Russia is ready, the king of the north. Egypt and the Arab
states are ready, the king of the south. From the east the great Red Chinese guard now
numbering 200 million, exactly as prophesied in the book of Revelation is ready as I
shared with you two years ago, the Russians started a seven-year project to dam up the
Euphrates. The Bible says the Euphrates will be dried up and the kings of the east will
march across. The world is getting ready and theres not going to be any respite in war,
its going to get worse and worse before it gets any better.
And so, sometimes though we think we know how God ought to answer, He doesnt
answer the way we think He should. And in verse 6 He told Habakkuk, Im going to
raise up the Chaldeans to judge Israel. And so Gods ways are mysterious. His
unexpected providences are mysterious. And certainly His instrument is mysterious.
When He talks about the Chaldeans, that must have really been a problem for
Habakkuk cause the Chaldeans were very, very despised. They were absolutely pagan
and godless.
Theres a fellow who writes me letters all the time from Canada. And hes a writer. And
he wrote me a novel, just personally for me he wrote a whole novel. Hes very prolific.
His letters are like about twelve pages long. And he wrote me this 100-page thing, all
typed out, just a personal novel...excellent. And he had one line in there that I thought
as classic and it was this. He said this, God aint stuck for carrier pigeons. And you
say, What does that mean? It must means this, that if God wants to use the
Chaldeans, He can do it. Thats what it means. I mean, God has used all sorts of
strange instruments to bring His purposes to pass including an ass in Numbers 22and
perhaps many other occasions.
One perhaps prime example of that I find in Isaiah 44. If you have your Bible, you might
look at that passage, Isaiah 44. And here you have the incident of Israel, the prophecy

regarding Israel being released from the Babylonian captivity. In Isaiah 44, lets see, I
think its verse 28...yes, heres the prophecy about Cyrus. And this was many, many
years before Cyrus was ever king. God says, Who saith of Cyrus, he is My shepherd?
God says that Cyrus, this pagan king is his shepherd, And shall perform all My
pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy
foundation shall be laid. Now look at the first verse, I think, of the next chapter, verse
45...er, chapter 45 verse 1, not only does He call him a shepherd, but He says, Thus
saith the Lord to His...what?...anointed, to Cyrus.
Now Cyrus was a pagan king, go back to Habakkuk. Cyrus was a pagan king and yet
God said, Im going to use Cyrus to free Israel from bondage. And He carried it even
further by saying, Cyrus is My shepherd, Cyrus is My anointed. And Ill tell you, God
uses some strange instruments to carry out His judgment, doesnt He? One perhaps
very strange instrument is Antichrist who is definitely, believe it or not, being used, or
going to be used by God in the Tribulation to do exactly what God wants him to do.
Not only that, the same is true of the kings of the north. All of the parts that are involved
in prophecy in the Tribulation are used by God. You read Ezekiel 38, theres one little
phrase there. It talks about the kings of the north coming against Israel and it says
Gods going to put hooks in their jaws and bring them down. God literally brings down
the kings of the north against Israel. God uses strange instruments to fulfill His plan.
Today because of the New Testament we know how it all ends, dont we? Habakkuk
didnt know. He was in a worse dilemma than we are. We know that God is letting things
happen to prepare the world for judgment because after judgment
comes...what?...glory, the Kingdom. The worst judgment this world will ever see will be
the Tribulation. In Matthew 24 Jesus says theres nothing like it since the beginning of
time...nothing like it. Following that tremendous wrath of God outpoured on this world,
immediately following it, immediately is the glorification of Christ, of Israel and of the
church.
So Gods ways are mysterious. His enaction is mysterious. His unexpected providences
are mysterious. And certainly His unusual instruments are mysterious. As a result of
that, secondly, Gods ways are misunderstood. Not only mysterious but misunderstood,
and there are two different groups of people that misunderstand Gods ways. First of all,

careless religious people misunderstand Gods ways. And we saw in Matthew chapter 7
several weeks ago that there are going to be many very religious people at the
judgment, right? Now theyre going to say, Lord, Lord, here we are, and He says,
Depart from Me I never knew you. There are going to be many people who were
religious but very, very careless..godless, religious people. Look at verse 5. Behold
among the nations in regard and wonder marvelously for I will work a work in your days
which you will not...what?...believe though it be told. These religious Israelites didnt
believe the message that God gave them. They didnt believe it. Israel never would
believe. No matter what God did, they never believed the prophets.
In Matthew 21 you have one of the saddest parables in all the Bible. And Ill just refer to
it. The man who had the vineyard and he brought servants in and people would come
and kill the servants. And finally he said, Ill put my own son there, surely7 they wont
kill my son. And what did they do? They killed the son. Graphic illustration of the fact
that no matter who God sent to Israel, they always did the same thing with them, they
never believed God, they never would believe God. God said judgment, judgment,
judgment. The prophets kept crying judgment, judgment, nobody ever believed them.
And yet they fancied themselves to be very religious people. There are people like that
today. There are people in churches, liberal churches sitting around glibly singing little
hymns and listening to little spiritual thoughts dripping off the lips of their preachers who
carelessly sit there thinking that religion is going to protect them and ignore again and
again and again the Scriptures that talk about judgment...careless religious people.
Just to show you how they do this, look at 2 Peter chapter 3 and I want you to see a
characteristic of the careless religious people. Second Peter 3, lets see, verse 4, well
verse 3 really we should start with. Knowing this first that there shall come in
the...what?...in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts...and here it comes,
verse 4...and saying...what?... Where is the promise of His coming?
Now this is always, always, always the attitude of the apostate. They deny the deity of
Christ and secondly, they always deny the Second Coming. They reject every Scripture
that talks about judgment. And theyll sit in their churches year after year and their
schools and seminaries and all of this and reject all of the Scripture that is so explicit
about judgment. And you want to hear the brilliance of their argument? This will shock

you, look at verse 4, listen to this logic, heres what they say, For since the fathers fell
asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. Isnt that
brilliant? You know what theyre saying? Well, He never will come because He never
has, see. I will never die because I never have. Ill never be judged because I never
have been judged. Isnt that brilliant? Thats what they said before Noah, didnt they? It
never will rain because it never has. And God said, My Spirit will not
always...what?...strive with man, and it did rain and judgment came. And it says here in
verse 5...you say, Well how can anybody be stupid enough to believe that kind of
logic? Well verse 5 explains it, For this they....what?...theyre willingly ignorant. They
want to be stupid on this point. They dont want to buy judgment, do they? They dont
want anything to do with it.
All right, go back to Habakkuk. So we see then there are people who believe a lie.
Whos the father of all lies? Satan. So they believe Satan. And the same like Sodom
and Gomorrah, easy-going, sinful people who never believed their city will be destroyed,
but Gods going to come and careless, religious people misunderstand the judgment of
God. Let me tell you, if youre a careless person who is sitting beside someone day in
and day out and living life as if it was very glib, who is going to the job standing
wherever you do with people all around you, coming to church, sitting beside someone
here, going over here, meeting people, circulating in the world, never a thought for
eternity, never a thought for the judgment of God...let me warn you tonight that Gods
going to judge this world, judgment is inevitable. Its time that you check your own life to
be sure youre prepared. God did judge Israel, you know. He did. Not many years after
Habakkuks time He judged them. They were taken into captivity and it was a disaster.
Paul picks this same verse, verse 5, and records it for us in the thirteenth chapter of
Acts. And he says in this chapter, and hes, of course, in a different context speaking,
but he says in Acts 13:41, Behold, you despisers, and wonder and perish, for I work a
work in your days, a work in which you shall in no way believe though a man declare it
unto you. He stood there and he talked to those Jews in that synagogue and he said,
You wont believe this but Gods going to judge you just like He told those Jews in
Habakkuks day He was going to judge them and youre not going to believe Him now
anymore than they believed Him then. Gods going to judge you for crucifying Jesus
Christ, he was saying. Gods going to judge you for refusing the gospel. But youre not

going to believe it anymore than your fathers believed it in Habakkuks day, but its going
to come. And judgment came by way of the Chaldean army, just as Habakkuk promised.
And Ill tell you something else, judgment came by way of the Roman army, as Paul
promised in Acts 13, for in 70 A.D. the city of Jerusalem was wiped out. One million,
one-hundred thousand Jews were killed. One hundred and sixteen thousand bodies
were thrown over the wall just for the sport of it. A hundred thousand Jews were sold
into slavery, so many that the market was flooded and they didnt bring as much money
as a horse.
It came. The judgment of God always comes on sin. And it will come to careless
religious people. Gods at work in His judgment right now. And His judgment slumbereth
not, its near. Dont you ever let yourself be lulled into senselessness, you wake up and
start reading the signs of the times. Gods judgment is near.
Not only are Gods ways misunderstood by careless, religious people, but sad to say,
theyre also misunderstood by the world and even more misunderstood. In verse 11,
Then shall his mind change and he shall pass over and offend imputing this his power
unto his God. Now thats a difficult verse to understand. What it means is this, that after
the Chaldeans conquered Israel, theyre going to think they did it themselves. Theyre
going to think they did it by the power of their own god. The Chaldeans when they did
conquer Israel, completely failed to realize that they were being used by God and they
went around patting themselves on the back telling themselves how great they were for
having done this. They thought they owed their military success to their own ability. Boy,
thats so typical. No matter what a man accomplishes, he always pats himself on the
back. But God was soon to demonstrate to them that it was not so because the God
who had lifted them up was about to smash them down. Sad to say in the world in which
we live today, people soon forget that what they do they do not do in many ways by their
own power, but are permitted by God. Great powers have come and gone and
conquered and become drunk with their own success and God has cast them down,
and still man never learns the significance of history, the real history that is Gods
history, never dawns on him.
Yes the ways of God are mysterious to the careless, religious people and to the world.
The world thinks its doing it on its own and in reality theyre nothing but the pawns of

God. So the ways of God are mysterious and they are misunderstood, but thirdly and
most importantly, though they be mysterious and though they be misunderstood, they
are moral. They are always moral. The ultimate triumphant of right, the ultimate
glorification of God, the ultimate setting up of Gods Kingdom is the end of all history
and Gods ways are right, they are always right, they are always righteous. God is
moral. God can do no wrong. God exerts a divine superintending power over the history
of His world. God has divine control of this world. In verse 6 it indicates that God is
going to raise up the Chaldeans. God is the one in control. Every single nation on this
earth is under the power of God.
How do you know that? Romans 13:1, The powers that be are...what?...ordained of
God. God is the Lord of history. Listen, God was sovereign in creation, was He not?
God is sovereign in the dispersion of man at the Tower of Babel, was He not? God is
sovereign in the historical process, is He not? And Ill tell you, Gods just as sovereign in
how it all ends as He was in how it all began. God is going to end history because He
began it and Hes responsible for everything that happens. So there is a divine control
over history. And may I say at the same time, theres a divine plan in history. Things
dont happen by accident. Theyre a part of Gods plan. Because, you see, its God who
sees the end from the beginning, because its God who knows the times and the
season. God knows exactly what Hes doing, the clock of God is never off one split
second. Every single thing happening in this world today is happening right on schedule
because God is a divine timetable. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3 you have that beautiful
passage about a time to love and a time to die and a time to weep and a time to work.
And just as there are times and seasons in the lives of men, so divine history is on time.
You look back to Daniel and you read about the 70 weeks of Daniel and you know that
God keeps timetables that are infinitely accurate, that are careful. Theres a divine plan,
theres a divine control, theres a divine timetable. God is running history and Hes
running it to the end that He sovereignly desires it to come to.
And what is that end? Its the glorification of His Kingdom. The key to the history of the
world is one concept, get it and never forget it. The key to the history of the world, here
it comes, is the Kingdom of God...that is the key. Gods redemptive history...history of
the Old Testament was Israel, history in the New Testament is the church. And in the
Old Testament the Kingdom was promised. In the New Testament age it was promised

again and then postponed. The Kingdom of God runs right through history. Gods desire
was to call out a people holy, set apart unto His name. Thats His plan. The Kingdom of
God is central in history. The only thing that matters in this whole world and this whole
universe is the Kingdom of God. The problems of today are to be understood only in the
light of the Kingdom of God. The problems of yesterday are to be understood only in the
Kingdom of God and so the problems of tomorrow.
What God permits in the church and what God permits in the world is related to His
Kingdom. And its going to be established. And the principle is the same, before the
glory there must always be the suffering. So dont stumble at world events. Weve just
scratched the surface of this book, were going to go on further. But dont stumble at
world events. If youre a Christian, ask yourself this....whatever is happening, ask
yourself this...how does this relate to the Kingdom of God? Ask yourself that if youre a
Christian. Whatever is going on, how does it fit in to Gods plan to establish His
Kingdom? If you cant figure out why theres conflict in Israel, how does it fit in to Gods
establishing His Kingdom? If you cant figure out why theres problems going on in our
country or around the world or in your own life, how does it fit in to Gods Kingdom? If
youre not a Christian, if you dont know Jesus Christ and youre not a part of His
Kingdom, ask yourself this...what is God trying to tell me? What is God saying? What is
there in the world and what is there in me that needs to be corrected? Why is this
judgment coming? Whats wrong with the world and whats wrong with me? And having
asked yourself that question, come to the sense of your own sin and then turn to Jesus
Christ who can take you out of the kingdom of this world and put you into the Kingdom
of His dear Son. Lets pray.
Father, tonight we realize we have just scratched the surface of this tremendous book.
But, Father, tonight perhaps somehow weve been able to think about some of the
things that are important in this, Thy precious Word. Oh we know Thy ways are
mysterious and we know how people so easily misunderstand them. But, O God, we
know Thy ways are always moral.
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12; Luke 19:1-10
In more than 30 years of preaching, I have never preached from the prophet Habakkuk. He is
definitely not a household name, even for the church. This mornings lesson is the only time that
Habakkuk, one of Israels minor, or lesser, prophets, shows up in the three-year lectionary.

Which means, over the course of 156 Sundays, we get to hear Habakkuk once, which is today. But
isnt this just like God, to take an unknown character like Habakkuk and make him one of the
witnesses of Scripture, whose voice serves Gods self-revelation to Israel and in Jesus Christ?
Protestant Christians have at least an indirect interest in Habakkuk through their interest in the
apostle Paul, who writes in his letter to the Romans, The just, the righteous, shall live by faith.
Most of us have also heard these words associated with Martin Luther. But they are actually taken
from Habakkuk, whose importance is much greater than he knew, limited neither to his time nor by
the shortness of his prophecy.
Habakkuk is a praying prophet rather than a preaching prophet. There is a depth to his prophecy
that reflects the nature of his writing as an extended conversation of speaking and listening to God.
Our reading begins, How long, O Lord, must I call for help?
This is a lament, a desperate cry for help in the midst of great trouble. Habakkuks words are a
complaint; he has major issues to take up with God. I suspect we do as well, if we are honest.
Habakkuk was attentive to what was going on around him. Despite his prayers, he sees violence,
injustice and wrongdoing everywhere. Gods law appears to be helpless; it does not seem to work,
and the wrongdoers have gotten the upper hand.
Gods justice -- the good order given to the people of Judah, Gods own people -- is perverted in all
walks of life. This was not what God had intended. Gods law, the Torah, was a gift from God for
ordering all of Israels life to one end -- that God be honored in all things. But this was not
happening, and Habakkuk became increasingly distressed and finally cries out to God.
How long, O Lord, must I call for help?
Habakkuk was, much like the other prophets, a morally sensitive soul. It was not easy for him to turn
away from the oppression of the weak, the dismissal of the poor, dishonest dealings, constant
fighting and public conflict, the destruction of the fabric of social life, endless litigation -- in short, a
wholesale abandonment of Gods will by the people whose very reason for existing was to be a visible
witness to Gods way with the world.
Apparently, Habakkuk had repeatedly called upon God to act, to intervene, to set things right, to
just do something. Yet it seemed that God had not heard him and God would not act to save. Finally,
out of a deep sense of frustration and confusion, he cries out to God, How long, O Lord, must I call
for your help, but you do not listen?!
There may be nothing worse than speaking but not being heard, than addressing another who
doesnt listen or respond. This is no small thing for Habakkuk, a Jew whose faith and life is
expressed fully in the Psalms, the prayer book of Israel.
At the heart of the Psalms is the conviction that the God of Israel is known in prayer, through
speaking, listening and answering. And Habakkuk was not praying like many people pray today. He

wasnt praying to be famous or successful. He wasnt asking for a big house, an expensive car or a
higher paying job. He didnt ask God to make him a major prophet like Ezekiel, Isaiah or Jeremiah.
In fact, Habakkuk doesnt even pray for himself. What he offers up to God are prayers on behalf of
others, especially those who suffer much and those who suffer unjustly.
A popular bumper sticker that has been around for a long time says, Prayer changes things. But
what can we say when we have prayed and nothing changes?
This is what Habakkuk said: How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
What if Habakkuk put that bumper sticker on his car? Could you blame him? At least he is honest.
Some churches offer classes and workshops on prayer. They sell books and DVDs on how to pray and
what to pray, so that by praying, Christians can make a difference in the world. But they dont offer
instruction on what to do when God does not answer.
How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
If we are honest, we would acknowledge we are one with Habakkuk. We know what unanswered
prayer is like, even if we dont pray formally.
Lord please do this, please act here, please set this right, please make this well, please right this
wrong, please stop this evil, please heal this damage, please end this conflict, please change this
heart.
Lord, please do something! Act like God. Cant you see we are weary of fighting against wrong and
trying to do good?
We may not speak these words in formal prayers, but because we are Gods people, because we are
the church, the Holy Spirit prays them in us and we carry them in the depths of our hearts. We feel
the deep sense of injustice, of grief, the pain of suffering, and yes, like Habakkuk, a desire to take up
our complaints with God: How long, O Lord?
God does answer Habakkuks lament, his complaint against God, his cry for justice. The answer is
not what he was waiting for, but it is an answer -- one that is both unsettling and astounding.
God speaks to say he is already at work and Habakkuk will see something amazing in his lifetime, so
amazing he wont believe it. Gods answer is that he will destroy the injustice among his people, the
nation of Judah, by bringing the troops of Babylonia to overwhelm them.
What Judah will get is what Judah has selfishly desired and eagerly sought: injustice, violence,
division, a relatively godless way of life that is easily drawn to the worship of other gods in place of
the God who brought them out of Egypt and made them his own. And the Babylonians, an immoral
and pagan empire, will be the instrument of Gods judgment.

In other words, Judah will get exactly what they desire, and this will be Gods judgment. This is not
what Habakkuk was expecting to hear. But he persists in prayer, in conversing with God.
Amazingly, he takes God at his word, saying he plans to position himself to be alert and on the
lookout for what God will do and say next. Habakkuk trusts that God is already at work, even if he
cant see it. He trusts that God has more to say, and he commits himself to waiting on God rather
than taking matters into his own hands.
This is the rub in the story. Habakkuk assumes a disposition of waiting with confident trust in God.
He waits.
In Scripture, to wait is to be active, to do something, something very important. In fact, it is the most
important thing we do, since waiting is an expression of faith, of being open and receptive to God, to
Gods action, to Gods voice, to Gods will, to Gods answer.
To wait is to be patient, which literally means to suffer, or to be acted upon rather than acting, to be
receptive to the action of others. To wait and to be patient is to trust that God is at work even if we
cant see or understand what God is doing at any given moment of time.
Some people say that all you need is faith and everything will turn out all right. In other words, faith
fixes things.
But true faith is not something we have and use; it is not a tool in our hands to make things happen.
True, living faith, which is a gift of God himself, has us, since faith in God -- which is not faith in our
faith or in ourselves -- is a glad willingness to accept Gods will as it comes to us each day as God
continues to be God.
Living faith is an entrusting of ourselves into Gods hands as God speaks and acts in all the
circumstances of our lives, since God is already busily at work. This is why the Lord tells Habakkuk
to write down the vision of his purpose for the world, since it awaits its appointed time and has yet to
be completed.
What is this vision? What does God give Habakkuk to put into writing and to hold until its appointed
time? What does God say to him about his vision for the world -- the truth of what is going on, what
is truly worth waiting for and will certainly come?
The Lord says, See, the righteous will live by this faith. This is not a program or a list of things to do
or a blueprint or a recipe for success.
So what are we waiting for?
We are waiting for God. Faith is a willingness to trust that God knows best and will bring our lives
and the world to a good completion. This is Gods vision for the world, what God has promised and
what we, by faith, trust will surely come in Gods good time and in Gods good way.

We pray this each time we assemble to worship God, offering up the words Jesus taught us: Our
Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it
is in heaven.
He gave us this prayer when the disciples approached him asking, Lord, teach us to pray. We need
to learn how to pray; we need to be taught how to converse with God by the One who is both Gods
Word to us and our complete answer to Gods Word. This is why we offer our prayers in the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Habakkuk could not see or know this, living almost 600 years before Jesus. But already, although
not fully, but still with assurance, God tells Habakkuk the kingdom will come: It surely will come.
And here we are this morning, waiting for God, wondering together, How long, O Lord?
The truth is, we dont know, even though a lot of people have tried to predict. We just trust that God
does know, and we trust that God knows what he is doing. And contrary to many skeptics, our faith is
not wishful thinking but faith that rests upon something solid, something firm, and something strong
enough to sustain it. Our faith rests upon Gods sure and certain promises spoken in our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Martin Luther said, Faith is a living, daring confidence in Gods grace, so sure and certain that the
believer would stake his or her life on it. Moreover, he said, Faith is a divine work in us which
changes us and makes us to be born anew of God.
This is amazing: Faith is a divine work in us.
It is something God gives and does, the work of him who creates new things out of nothing, giving
life to the dead and existence to things that did not exist. In our worries about the world and its
future, about our lives, our loved ones, and all that goes on in and around us, God continues to create
the gift of faith, which renews us and sustains us even when we just dont know what is going on.
What we do know is what Habakkuk wrote down, which has been revealed fully in Jesus Christ.
This is living faith, which grasps Gods gift of himself in the goodness of his Son who is the way, the
truth and the life. Because of him, faith frees us to trust and accept the limits of our lives and to
believe the good news that God is God and we are not: The righteous shall live by faith.
But this does not mean we simply do nothing. Luther says what we do is the righteousness of God,
which we receive through faith and is Gods work in us.
This is all of God; it is Gods doing, which is why it frees and empowers us to find great pleasure in
living a life of obedience to God, delighting in Gods ways rather than our own.
This is faith that works by the energy of love, the love which the Holy Spirit generously pours into
our lives when we hear the Word and eat at the table of our Lord.
Thanks be to God.